LOS ANGELES — Lawyers for Los Angeles County admitted Wednesday that officials had not complied with an injunction ordering them to clean up the jails, but a visibly annoyed federal judge agreed to wait two more months before deciding whether to find the sheriff and county supervisors in contempt of court.
"You're on full notice that what will be coming up in 60 days is a contempt hearing," U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson told the county's legal team after hearing nearly four hours of updates on the state of Los Angeles jails.
This week's court date addressed developments in three long-standing federal lawsuits, none of which seem to be going well for the county. In addition to planning a contempt hearing in the oldest of those cases, the judge also hinted that he'd be open to considering contempt in another case — a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice that accuses the county of providing unconstitutionally bad mental health care behind bars.
